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Prayers Needed

   First let me say that I havn't been blogging  much of late due to the fact that "LIFE" is happening all around me, so please forgive me. I do intend to come back full time once things settle down.

   My mom is going down hill a little more with each new day. As of yesterday she has blood in her catherter bag, lots of blood. We knew that the catherter would cause infections, so there it goes.  Things not any better with my husband, divorce more than likely still  happening.

   But even that is not the worst of things going on right now. As many of you are aware there is a storm, Gustav, in the Gulf of Mexico. Well they are predicting it's land fall, as of now, to be none other than on yours truly, lol. Yes it is headed straight for us.  We live approx 50 or so miles north of the gulf. And with my home being an older one, it can no longer be insured, so we would lose everything. My car is on the blink right now so leaving is out of the question, and even if we did have a  good vehicle, mom can't travel.

  When I tell you I have never been so scared, it's not a lie. I have lived through so many storms here in Louisiana and none has ever effected me like this one is. That is why  I am asking for you wonderful people to pray for us down here in the south. I know it's hard to pray for it to go somewhere else, cuz that would mean it has to hit some one else. I am a nervous wreck to say the least. I have been on the edge for several weeks now about mom and her condition and this storm is kicking my butt but good. All of this is taking a great toll on me physically too. I have lost almost 20 lbs in the last two weeks. Although I am excited about the weigth loss, it's not the healthiest of ways to do it. I am feeling the effects of the stress on my body, and I have to say, I'm a little worried about that too.

   SOOOOOOO ladies, PLEASE pray for us. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and that is why I am posting this.   I will probably be without power for sometime if hits us ( i hope that is the worst of it, I can live with that), so I will update as soon as I can.

PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS...................MUCH LOVE......KITTY

Daily Devotion 242

I need your prayers again........

****The last couple of days****

Life around here has been a little bit busy over the last couple of days. Yesterday I was so blessed to receive an early Christmas present from my Mother in Law which was a Kenwood Food Mixer - in fact this machine does everything and includes a food processor, liquidiser plus accessories - so I was so so blessed.  This will make bread baking especially so much easier (not that I mind the hard work of kneading but with the food mixer this will be so much quicker and easier).

Also yesterday I picked around 10lbs of green tomatoes, we have noticed over the last few days that these are starting to rot so we thought we would leave them for another couple of days, as the weather was supposed to be really warm & sunny yesterday ha ha, this never really happened. I guess the sun came out about 6pm for around an hour but now from about 7.30pm onwards the nights start to draw in. 

Ok, back to tomatoes, there are still loads to be picked and several more are starting to rot and the tomato plants themselves have just about had it as the leaves are quite yellow now.  I also a few toms that were starting to turn red on the kitchen windowsill but some of these are starting to rot too.

I have possibly found a couple of English recipies for green tomato chutney but if you have any other recipies then please let me know asap as I need to really make the chutney either this afternoon or tomorrow morning

Wednesday was quite busy as I managed to clear two large bin liners full of rubbish (mostly mine). I emptied out my bureau, filing trays & bags with papers that I had not gone through in awhile and as yesterday was blue bin day (recycling bin) I decided that I may as well have a clear out.  I also had to wait in for a computer chair to be delivered so I made use of the time.  I also went through tons of papers downstairs so I was quite pleased with the amount I managed to clear and I have tons more space now woo hoo.

We are having a filing cabinet delivered a week on Monday which will go in my office.  I need to move things around a little but we are desperately in need of a decent filing cabinet.  We were blessed with monies for our wedding so hence have used some monies towards the filing cabinet.  We managed to purchase one on e-bay, scandinavian pine which is near enough the same wood as our computer cabinet.  We also purchased the office chair from e-bay too.  I had been using a dining room chair for years but sitting on this for long periods of time especially for work wasn't exactly comfortable. Andrew became so fed up with this chair that he decided to order the office one for me and it is so comfortable!

This morning Andrew had to be up around 5.15am so after he went to work I managed to put out two lots of washing (2 loads were washed yesterday evening and one around 5.45am this morning). I did my morning quick tidy up of the bathroom and cleaned the kitchen sink area and kitchen worktops before starting work.

Today is my ironing day so this afternoon when I have finished cleaning the kitchen I will be spending a couple of hours at least ironing which is fine.  I also need to start doing my menu plan for the next month this afternoon.

If I do make some chutney I will let you know how it goes - as I have never done this before.

I have also been having major problems with my desktop computer a lot lately & especially when I was working Tuesday evening, it must have crashed & at times re-started itself around 14 times.  The son of the lady whom I am working for took the desktop yesterday afternoon and is very  kindly re-building this for me.

Due to the above,  I am using my laptop (of which there are a couple of issues on here *sigh*). There are some email addresses etc that I don't have (Bren please can you email me your email addy ) and anyone else that I don't have.  Jacque & Jocelyn I don't have yours on here either - so please can you re-send when you can.

Daily Devotion 241

Enjoying the simple things in life...

Hello my dear, dear friends... I hope this evening finds you all well. 
I have had some things on my heart that I want to share with you tonight, some news from my husband that makes these things even more real to me.  On this roller coaster ride of life we don't know what the next turn will hold... whether we will be plummeting into a valley or climbing a high mountain... It is uncertain, it is sometimes frightening... but we as children of the Living God have a safe and secure end to all of this twisting and turning. 
My husband has just informed me that he may be losing his job come Tuesday.  It is a sudden blow to our family.  It is scary, but it is not something that our God, Jehovah-Jireh, The One who Provides, can't handle.  He is able.
So my mind is how we can be even more frugal minded than we already are.  Suppers can be made a bit more cheaply and stretched a bit farther, I have my website that I am trying to sale some things and my Etsy.  We don't do a whole lot of extra-curricular activities so that is not a big thing.  I try and limit my trips to run errands... maybe instead of once a week I could make it once every two weeks.  And these things are well and good... BUT... I don't want them to cloud my focus.  I don't want them to dampen my spirit and choke my joy. 
Things that are precious to me, things that are simple and lovely and good... I am going to focus on those...
God's sweet promises
A good morning kiss from my husband
The early morning snuggle time with my children
The rain on the roof
Freshly picked vegetables from the garden
Hearing my children pray
Seeing kindness from my kids to their siblings or others
The strong arms of my husband
Snowflakes
Beautiful skies painted by God's own hand
Piano Music
Laughter
Open windows and a gentle breeze
Candlelight
Church hymns sung acapella
Warm soup on a cold and dreary day
My husband reading the Bible to our family
Homemade gifts
Flowers
Smiles
Hearing, I love you Moma
These things and more are the real and true things, the things to be treasuring... not the material, not the temporal...
We trust that through this valley God will be glorified... that He will be lifted up.  That He holds us with His Almighty Hand and we can be at peace knowing He will never let us fall.
God be with you dear ones.

Going Away...

Graphic courtesy of www.doverpublications.com

Tomorrow morning my ten year old son and I are heading up North. We are going to visit my parents in Kentucky. Friday night, when we arrive, we'll just relax with my parents with a nice home cooked dinner (finally not cooked by yours truly ;0)).

Saturday morning my Mother and I are having brunch with my old Girl Scout troop. Believe it or not after 13 years we are all still good friends. Actually as we have gotten older I think it is very important to grow closer to your childhood friends. With my living over 400 miles away and family obligations I know that I have not made enough of an effort to keep in touch. Now, I am determined that whenever possible, to get together when I am in town (they all live in the same city).

Saturday evening my youngest cousin, not second cousin mind you, is getting married in an outdoor ceremony. It is not supposed to rain, but dear me, it is supposed to be 90 degrees! She is getting married young, but she has such a good head on her shoulders that I know she and her intended will do just grand.

Sunday morning we will probably attend church (if we are not too tired from the wedding and subsequent one and one-half hour return drive) then we usually go to lunch after church. Late that afternoon we are to go to my paternal Grandmother's 87th birthday party! I have a great relationship with both of my Grandmother's and for that I am thankful and blessed.

Monday morning Bryson and I will headed back home to the Peach state! I hope we have time either on the way up or on the way back to stop in my favorite little town, Bell Buckle, Tennessee. If you are ever travelling down I-24 you need to stop!

I hope to be able to announce the winner of the No Greater Joy prize on Monday, but if I cannot then it will be announced first thing Tuesday morning! Good luck to all who have and will continue to enter. Also next week I think it is time to talk about Fall fashions. I want to talk about what is "in" for this fall and also talk about how we can wear what is "in" modestly.

Have a wonderful weekend and Labor Day!

Blessings!

Monthly Measuring/Weigh-In

Time for my monthly measurements... Overall, I'm happy.  Sure, I wish it was a bit bigger difference, but I know some muscle building is going on and my arms are not as flabby, even if they haven't gone down a whole lot.  You can kind of see a trend... second month measurements went up, most likely due to muscle increase.  This month my hips went down just slightly which I was surprised, because I did alot more biking with a bike with no speeds and I could feel it with my upper thighs and buttocks.  Figured they'd be bulging!  LOL.  I see that I am trimming from the top down.... reminds me of those weight loss commercials where you see both man and wife gain weight (cartoons), and then they lose weight and the woman loses her arms and *****, yet keeps her tummy and hips.  Hope that trend doesn't continue... at least the difference isn't large and overall I am not loosing ***** yet, LOL, considering I gained a bit of muscle underneath when I started exercising more regularly.    I was smiling big a couple weeks ago when the doctor's office visit confirmed some weight loss.  I know my pants are getting looser in places, but my tummy is staying put, so my skirts I don't really see a difference.  I try on old pants every so often just to see if I can fit into them or how different they fit.  Last year's capri's were too tight to fit into, but now I can fit into them as I did last year (even though I weighed less last year). 

August 28:

Upper Chest: 34.25, Breast: 36, Waist: 36.5, Hips: 41.75, Upper Thighs: 23.75, Lower Thighs: 18.75, Calves:  15, Upper Arms:  12 1/8,  Weight:  144.5 (Two weeks ago at Doctor's office). 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Previous Measurings:

June 26: 

Upper Chest:  34, Breast: 36,  Waist:  36.5,  Hips:  42,  Upper thigh: 24.25, Lower thigh:  17.5, and Calves:  15 inches, Upper Arm 12-7/8ths.    Weight:  150 pounds. 

July 28th:

Upper Chest 34.5,  Breast 36.5,  Waist 37,  Hips:  41.5,  Upper Thigh: 23.75,  Lower Thigh:  18.75,  Calves:  14.75,   Upper Arm:  12.5

Camping, College and School Starting...

We've been gone camping and I am about settled into home (about...still much to do, but I am getting into a routine).  We took a spur of the moment trip to camp at Governor Dodge State Park in Wisconsin.  It is a quiet place, huge campground and a very large state park.   We enjoyed some lazy summer relaxation before heading back home to meet what is there to get done. 

Back home, Kate started college this week.  She is learning her schedule.  Unfortunately we can't get her into ONE more class and she isn't sure she is happy or sad about that.  One more class would give her official full-time status according to the college.  They told us that she was full-time, but this seminar class the financial aid office tells us, does not qualify her for full time.  So, I am researching having her take a correspondence course that will transfer to her 4 year college in religion (which our local college doesn't carry).  She is really struggling with the amount of work with the 3 classes currently and tells me she is not sure another class is a good idea.  She was up until 12:58 am last night (with me by her side for the last hour and a half) doing her chemistry assignment.  An entire chapter in one day and gobs of questions... lots of math problems and formulas...  But she got it done and this morning looked ready to tackle another day.  She will be working after classes today, which will bring her home straight to do homework until bed again. 

We also started gearing up with our homeschool.  Getting out some of those books and beginning a few classes.  I am not totally organized, but this week was a week of organizing and cleaning up from camping and still cleaning out from the kitchen fire.  Our first day of "school" the two older girls painted their baby sister's room.  New to them and they did a great job.  They've watched us paint through the years, now it was time for them.  We also in doing this were moving her into this room, which was previously the "tv room" and in doing it, it has in effect decreased some tv watching time. 

Today the girls are picking some pears from our pear tree.  They are near ripe and need to be picked before they drop and "splat" on the ground.  I wasn't expecting any pears as we didn't get hardly a dozen last year even having bees to pollinate them... but this year... no bees and a full tree. 

The girls already have a mindset of completing their school year on time... which means every time I break off for school to do something constructive, I am finding a not so welcome front from the girls.  They pestered me about picking pears and really needing to do some "book work".  My 13 yo isn't like that so much, she's been homeschooled from the start, but I fought this mentality all the way through with my oldest and my second (still) likely because they went to school and consider school just that... book work.  While we have followed the Moore Formula and tried alternate forms of teaching, the two older girls have always come back to school meaning "text books".  And with not having many other than math and occasionally an English textbook, they have really struggled with feeling like they have accomplished something.  It  took my oldest getting a good score on her ACT to realize she actually learned something without the regimented school routine.  She has always felt behind her classmates who remained in school.  Just because she was different.  Not every day was a struggle though, she enjoyed homeschooling, but every so often the "oh, no, Mom's not a real teacher... thought would creep in and we'd be in for a rough day or two until they worked through that again".  (Usually spurred on my an educational event at her previous school.)  Anyways, I don't mean to make it sound like we don't accomplish things, it just doesn't seem that way when we don't school traditionally to the kids at times.  I think that means I need to put in some more praise days for completing a project or unit study. 

Organizing is going more quickly since the girls are back to help watch their sister.  I have to remind myself to break away and spend time with little Paige doing "Nothing" so that she will have her Mommy time.  WHile I'd love to have the house put together in a week or so... it likely won't be that quick.  But happy kids are worth more than a Martha Stewart House. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

APRONS RULE!

Awhile back someone askd me to post a few pictures of my many gingham aprons. Here are a few.  love the ones with the "Chicken Scratch" worked in them.